CAMILLA Hattersley was both surprised and hurt when the swimming team was named for the 2018 Commonwealth Games and she was not included.

The 22-year-old from Glasgow narrowly missed out on selection for Team Scotland when the bulk of the swimming squad were named last October and with Hattersley having made her Commonwealth Games debut in 2014 and following that up with a place in Team GB at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, it came as a shock that she was omitted from the initial line-up.

But, as so often happens with selections for major championships, additions are made as the event draws closer and Hattersley was added to the swimming team this month.

The announcement did, she admits, put an end to a long and agonising wait.

“The qualification times were extremely fast and I missed out on my 800m time by about half a second so obviously that was gutting," the freestyler said. "So then I was nominated and I had to sit and wait five months with my fingers crossed.

“That wait was extremely hard - I tried to put it to the back of my mind and get on with my day-to-day life of training and university. And I’ve been very busy so that was good.”

It is an understatement from Hattersley to say she has a busy life. As well as following the strenuous training schedule of an elite athlete, she is also in the penultimate year of her degree in aeronautical engineering at Glasgow University. It is quite an undertaking but despite the fact her timetable leaves almost no time for a social life, she would not change a thing.

“My first pool session is at 5.30am until 7.30am then I will get ready, grab some breakfast and head to uni,” she said. “I’m in uni all day and I take my swimming bag with me and then go to the pool at night. Then I go home and get dinner.

“I feel like I have no social life and I’ve not watched TV in months! Everyone on my course always says ‘I don’t know how you do it’ and I wonder that too sometimes. I have thought about stopping – sometimes I feel like I just need a long sleep because I’m always so tired. But then I remind myself why I’m doing it and now that I have been selected, it is all totally worth it.”

Hattersley is one of a strong Scottish contingent who will be competing in the British Championships, which begin at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh on Thursday, and it will be one of her final competitive appearances before she heads off to Australia’s Gold Coast with the rest of Team Scotland.

There will be no let-up for Hattersley, being entered in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle but having spent some time in Australia over the winter for a warm-weather training camp, she is feeling in good shape and confident of her form.

“It has come round very fast,” she said of the championships. “I have not been thinking about it too much but it should be good. It is great that it is in Edinburgh and I feel in good shape after the training camp. I feel fit and I hope to swim well.”

And as she looks ahead to the Commonwealth Games, she believes she can perform well and improve on her seventh-place finish in the final of the 800m freestyle at Glasgow 2014.

“The Commonwealths in Glasgow were my first major meet and that paved the way for me for other international meets,” she said. “I’ve a lot more experience now than I did the first time around – I’ve been at a Commonwealths, an Olympics and Europeans now so I know what it is like at a big meet and that will help with my confidence.

“I feel I have developed over the last year and a half despite some tough times and that has only made me more determined to do well and show people what I can do at the Games.”

FIVE TO WATCH AT THE BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS

Hannah Miley:

The 28-year-old is undertaking her usual heavy competition schedule and is entered in an incredible 23 events over the four days of racing, although she is unlikely to appear in every race in which she is entered.

It will be Miley’s 400m individual medley duel with Spaniard Mireia Belmonte that will likely be one of the races of the weekend and with Belmonte having pipped the Scot to bronze at the Olympics in 2016, Miley would love to snatch a victory over her long-time rival.

Adam Peaty

The Olympic, world, European and Commonwealth champion is the star attraction at Edinburgh’s Royal Commonwealth Pool and having improved his 50m breaststroke world record yet again last year, the 23-year-old Englishman will be keen to widen the gap even further between himself and his rivals in 2018.

Siobhan-Marie O'Connor

The Englishwoman has had a number of tussles over the past few years with Miley, although her specialist event is the 200m IM, in which she won silver at the Rio Olympics two years ago.

She is also Commonwealth champion in the 200m IM and will be using these British Championships to finalise her preparations for the defence of her title in April.

Duncan Scott

Scott has come of age in the past few years, establishing himself as one of the best freestylers in the world. He has spent his winter at a warm-weather training camp in Australia and these British Championships will be one of his last opportunities to sharpen up before he heads back to Australia for the Commonwealth Games.

Ross Murdoch

The past few years have seen Murdoch endure a number of ups and downs but the 24-year-old University of Stirling swimmer, who was in Australia over the winter with Scott, appears confident that he is back to his best form.

He will have a severe test this weekend when he goes in the event he is Commonwealth champion, the 200m breaststroke, with his greatest rivals for the British title Englishman Andrew Willis, as well as his clubmate, Craig Benson.